The 50-year-old put the finishing touches to his preparations for Saturday's FA Cup third-round clash with former Manchester United team-mate Paul Ince, now in charge at League One Notts County, as another Red Devils old boy, Roy Keane, was shown the door by Ipswich. With Premier League colleagues Roy Hodgson, Avram Grant, Gerard Houllier and Carlo Ancelotti having all found themselves at the centre of fevered speculation that their jobs are on the line this week, Bruce's mind inevitably returned to the day a little more than 10 years ago when his reign at Huddersfield came to an abrupt end. He said: "When you have to go and meet the owner at 7am at the hotel, you know something is going on. "I went reclusive. I was getting my house done and went labouring. I went and got the pie and chips for the lads and knocked down walls and saved myself £50 a day as a labourer. That's true. "After Huddersfield and Sheffield United, I was thinking it was not for me. "I suppose it is football, but I don't want to see it happen to anybody, let alone a high-profile football manager. "In my experience of it, it was the worst experience I can remember, certainly professionally, anyway." A decade on, Bruce enjoys an enviable level of support from the boardroom as he attempts to establish Sunderland as a Premier League force. Not so very long ago, he and Ince were briefly competing on an even keel in the respective positions at Wigan and Blackburn, although the former England midfielder lasted just six months at Ewood Park after cutting his managerial teeth at Macclesfield and MK Dons. Bruce said: "He was a winner all his career. He had a wonderful career as a player. "I had the joy of captaining him when he was a young kid - and he was nuts, by the way, when he was younger. "I am looking forward to seeing him and I am glad to see him back in the game because there were times, I know, after his Blackburn experience when he was thinking, 'Is this for me?'. "He did a wonderful job at Macclesfield. He took over when they were dead and buried, then did a good job at MK Dons and then got his chance. "He got his chance and was sacked. In fact, he got the sack after we played them. We played them at Wigan and beat them 3-0. "But he is a resilient type. He has gone and taken this one and I am sure he will be out striving again, if I know him, to try to get another top job." Keane, one of Bruce's predecessors at the Stadium of Light, found himself out of work once again today, although his former team-mate expects him to return. Bruce said: "He is a football person, Roy Keane, that's the one thing you can't question at all. "He lives and breathes it and I think football is a better place when he is in it." Meanwhile, Bruce was a relieved man after it emerged that midfielder David Meyler has not ruptured his cruciate ligament for a second time, and that Danny Welbeck's hamstring tear is not as bad as was first feared. Both men face spells on the sidelines - Welbeck is likely to be out for three weeks, Meyler significantly longer - but it could have been much worse. Bruce said: "We hope David doesn't need an operation, obviously, but the good news is thankfully, it is not going to be another year out, which would have been tough on him because he doesn't deserve that."
